Mustafa Masi Nayyem ( uk, Мустафа Найєм, ps, مصطفی نعیم) is an Afghan-

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

journalist, MP, lecturer at the

Kyiv School of Economics Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) is an undergraduate and graduate school of economics and management in Kyiv, Ukraine, founded in 1996 by the Economics Education and Research Consortium (EERC) and the Eurasia Foundation. KSE has an agreement with ...

, and public figure who was influential in sparking the

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...

in Ukraine. Formerly, he was a reporter for the newspaper "Kommersant Ukraine", the TVi channel, and the Internet newspaper

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...

. He also participates in Ukrainian journalists' anti-

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

movement, "Stop the censorship!" ( uk, Стоп цензурі!, Stop tsenzuri!), and

Hromadske.TV Hromadske ( uk, Громадське; lit. ''Public'') is a digital broadcasting station in Ukraine that commenced operations on 22 November 2013. The station was announced in June 2013 by 15 journalists, before commencing operations on 22 Novemb ...

. In the parliamentary elections on October 26, 2014, he was elected to the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

on the list of

Petro Poroshenko Bloc European Solidarity ( uk, Європейська солідарність, Yevropeis'ka solidarnist', YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in vario ...

. He has been described as a reformist parliamentarian. Nayyem did not take part in the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolv ...

. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine in August 2021.

Personal life and education

Nayyem was born in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

in 1981 and lived in an elite district near the Taj Beg palace. In 1984, ten days after his younger brother Masi Nayyem was born, their mother died. He has stated that he is a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

, a "Muslim by birth", and his native tongue is

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

. In Afghanistan, his father, Muhammad Naim ( uk, Мухаммад Наїм), had been Minister of Education and was responsible for the construction of educational facilities before the USSR invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. After the Soviet invasion, his father did not want to work for the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

and quit his post. In 1987 and because of the destruction of the ongoing Soviet Union's War in Afghanistan, his father went to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to study and met

Valentina Kolechko whom he later married in early 1989. Mustafa Nayyem became fluent in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

after he moved with his father to Moscow in August 1989 living near the Nakhimovsky Prospekt

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emergency eva ...

and later to Kyiv in 1990 attending 61st school near the Lukyanivsky market. Nayyem graduated from the Technical Lyceum in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

in 1998, and the Aerospace Systems Department of

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ) , image = NTUU KPI logo.png , image_size = 220px , caption = Seal of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute , established = 1898 , students = 36,000 (approximately) , admini ...

in 2004. He speaks fluent Ukrainian, Pashto, Russian, and English. He and Anastasia Ivanova who is from

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

and was a photographer for Kommersant-Ukraine ( uk, Коммерсантъ Украина), have a son, Mark-Mikhei (born 13 January 2008), and both mother and son are Jewish. His brother Masi Nayem is a lawyer and, in April 2016, deployed as a Ukrainian paratrooper to the

Donbass The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

- Avdiivka industrial zone which was the hottest point of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

. During the 2022 full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine Masi Nayem returned to the front. On 5 June 2022 his brother Mustafa Nayyem reported that he had been seriously injured.

Career

Journalism

Nayyem worked as a reporter for the '' Kommersant-Ukrainy'' newspaper from 2005 to 2007, and then for

Shuster LIVE Shuster (originally a spelling variant of Schuster) is the surname of several people: *Bill Shuster, American politician from Pennsylvania *Bud Shuster, American politician, father of Bill *David Shuster, American reporter *Frank Shuster, Canadian ...

, a political talk show on Ukrainian television, from 2007 to 2011. In 2009, Nayyem received national attention following Ukrayina TV channel's live discussion with then-presidential candidate

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...

. During the discussion, he questioned Yanukovych about the latter's acquisition of the

Mezhyhirya Residence The Mezhyhirya Residence ( uk, Межигір'я, Mezhyhiria, , russian: Межигорье, Mezhigor'ye) is an estate in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych lived when he was Prime Minister and then President of Ukraine and is now a museum displayin ...

. In 2010, Nayem was briefly detained by police officers, reportedly as a result of

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

for "persons of Caucasian appearance" (a common local term for people from the Caucasus). The following day, Nayem wrote an article in which described the events that led to his detention. He stated, "

Xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

should not become the face of Ukrainian nationality" and requested the firing of one of the officers responsible. Nayyem frequently contributes news and articles to ''

''. From September 2011 to late April 2013, he worked for the Ukrainian television channel TVi. After resigning due to a conflict with the channel's new management, he started a web project together with colleagues who also left the channel. Their project was named

Activism

Using

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, Nayem was one of the first activists to urge Ukrainians to gather on

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti ( uk, Майдан Незалежності , literally "Independence Square") is the central square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchen ...

(Independence Square) in

to protest

's decision to "pause" preparations for signing the

European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement The European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement is a European Union Association Agreement between the European Union (EU), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), Ukraine and the EU's 28 member states at the time (which are separate pa ...

(with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

). His post on Facebook on November 21, 2013, was a summons to rally for the

protests which led to the overthrow of the Yanukovych government, in the so-called

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

Politics

Nayyem was included in the electoral list of

(PPB) and elected to the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

(Ukraine's national parliament) on the parliamentary elections of October 26, 2014. He was one of dozens of Euromaidan activists who are trying to pivot from street politics into politics, where they hope to spearhead reform and turn Ukraine into a prosperous European state. Nayyem was a member of the

Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of European integration The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on issues of European integration ( uk, Комітет Верховної Ради України з питань європейської інтеграції, ) is a standing committee of the Verkho ...

. At the Rada session of 2 December 2014 he was the only deputy who voted against the cabinet of Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Gradually he began to criticize the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) more and more and stopped voting in sync with it. According to deputy head of the PPB faction

Oleksiy Honcharenko Oleksiy Oleksiyovich Goncharenko ( uk, Олексій Олексійович Гончаренко; born in Odesa, 16 September 1980) is a Ukrainian politician, member of the Ukrainian parliament, member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliam ...

by February 2019 he had not attended PPB faction meetings for several years.
In August 2016 Nayyem joined the (political party) Democratic Alliance. From Autumn 2015 until June 2016, he had been part of an attempt to form a political party around then

Governor of Odessa Oblast The Governor of Odesa Oblast is the head of the executive branch of government for the Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. The office of Governor is an appointed position, with officeholders being appointed by the President of Ukraine, on recommendation ...

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

with members of the parliamentary group Interfactional Union "Eurooptimists", Democratic Alliance and possibly Self Reliance until this projection collapsed in June 2016. On 28 February 2019 Nayyem voluntarily left the BPP faction. On 21 June 2019 Nayyem announced that he would not take part in the

. In November 2019 Nayyem was appointed Deputy Director General of

Ukroboronprom , type = State-owned enterprise , location = , industry = Conglomerate: Defense industry , predecessor = , founded = , founder = , hq_location_city = Kyiv , hq_location_country = Ukraine , num_locations = , num_locations_year = , ...

. He was dismissed from this position on 29 April 2021 due to the position being abolished (which had not been communicated to him).

Cultural print in Ukrainian politics

Ukrainian entertaining group "

Kvartal 95 Kvartal 95 Studio (Ukrainian: Сту́дія «Кварта́л-95»; Russian: Сту́дия «Кварта́л-95») is a publicly held television entertainment production company operating in Ukraine since 2003. The company was founded by no ...

" mentioned Nayyem in their song about

Ihor Kolomoyskyi Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...

(the name of latter omitted in the song) and their meeting in relation to the "

Ukrnafta Ukrnafta is a Ukrainian petroleum, oil and natural gas extracting company, the largest producer of oil and gas in the country. Ukrnafta is also an operator of a gas filling station network in Ukraine nationwide. In 2006, the company conducted some ...

issue" that surfaced in the Ukrainian media soon after

events.Live sharply and do not let anything drive you down! Glory to Ukraine! Song of Kolomoyskiy (Живите четко и не косячьте! Слава Украине! , Песня Коломойского)
Vecherniy Kvartal at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. 23.05.2015

Awards and honors

In 2010, Nayyem was awarded the Oleksandr Kryvenko prize "For Progress In Journalism" and in 2014 the prize of Gerd Bucerius Prize for Free Press in Eastern Europe.

Notes

References

External links

*
Nayem's blog at Ukrayinska Pravda

Mustafa Nayem: "For a journalist it is silly to be proud of one's honesty; it is included in a set of his professional values"
Interview to the Telekritika portal.
Mustafa-Masi Nayyem
on the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Nayyem, Mustafa 1981 births Living people Afghan emigrants to Ukraine Ukrainian Muslims Ukrainian journalists 21st-century journalists People from Kabul Kyiv Polytechnic Institute alumni People of the Euromaidan Hromadske.TV people TVi (TV channel) people Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Independent politicians of Petro Poroshenko Bloc Ukrayinska Pravda Ukrainian anti-corruption activists Ukrainian people of Pashtun descent Democratic Alliance (Ukraine) politicians 21st-century Ukrainian politicians Afghan emigrants to the Soviet Union Free Media Awards winners